Robin Jenkins: Perspectives on the Postcolonial

Abstract

The chapter considers Jenkins’s colonial fiction from the perspective of his own experiences of colonialism and through the lens of postcolonial theory. Drawing on the brief biographical material available and archival sources in the National Library of Scotland, it outlines the ways in which teaching in Afghanistan (Kabul, 1957-9) and in Malaysia (Sabah, 1961-5) extended Jenkins’s interest in social and moral conflicts to issues of ethnicity. It examines Dust on the Paw (1961) as a striking engagement with difficult issues around interracial marriage and a bold confrontation of the political configurations of Afghan society. Jenkins’s interest in uncomfortable clashes, the essay suggests, makes his analysis of colonialism particularly effective but also problematic in its handling of gender and race. Dust on the Paw, and later novels which draw on his Asian experiences - The Tiger of Gold (1962) and The Holy Tree (1969) – are therefore considered in the context of debates within postcolonial theory and other critical readings of Jenkins. Finally, the essay assesses Jenkins’s own understanding of imperial contexts and their relevance to Scottish identities through discussion of his late novel Leila (1995). Keywords: otherness; identity; class; gender; postcolonialism; ethnicity; alterity; orientialism; Scotland; Afghanistan; Malaysia.